WhatsApp launches another important feature

WhatsApp is also introducing new mention floating icons on the chat screen that will let a group member know how many his/her name has been mentioned in the chat while catching up on the unread messages.

WhatsApp is also introducing new mention floating icons on the chat screen

WhatsApp has formally announced the rollout of the new chat group features on the stable build of the app on both Android and iOS. The new features that are now reaching everyone globally have previously been available to the beta testers only, as well as have been spotted on some version but weren’t rolled out. These include the ability to set a group description, brand new WhatsApp group admin, a mention count float icon, and a search option for the group members.

The group description feature is same as the one that was spotted previously in the beta builds of the smartphone. The WhatsApp group admins can now set a description to a group chat to tell the participants what exactly the group is for. The group description can be changed by the admins as well as other non-admin members, whose rights are controlled by the admins only. This means that admins can restrict the regular group chat members to add, remove, or change a group description.

Additionally, the group chat admins can now control who can change the name and icon of the group. The group admins can allow or disallow the non-admin members from making any changes to those parameters of the group chat. The group admins can also revoke the permissions of the other group members. However, the creator of the group can no longer be removed by default by any other admins.

WhatsApp is also introducing new mention floating icons on the chat screen that will let a group member know how many his/her name has been mentioned in the chat while catching up on the unread messages. The ‘@’ icon will appear just above the double arrow icon when a group participant is reading the unattended messages. A group member whose name has been mentioned in the group will have to tap on it to directly jump to the message containing his/her name.

Lastly, the group search feature has now been released to all the users that will let the group participants search for the other members of a group. All they need to do is go to the Group info setting. There is also a new tool that will discourage the unwanted addition of users to a group after they have left it – to reduce spam invitations to join groups on WhatsApp.